President of the European Council Donald Tusk arrives to the prosecutor's office to testify as a witness in the investigation focusing on the 2010 plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski, in Warsaw on August 3, 2017 | Janek Skarzynski/AFP via Getty Images

Tusk testifies in Polish hearing criticized as politically motivated

European Council president summoned to Warsaw for second time in recent months.

WARSAW — European Council President Donald Tusk testified Thursday on Polish officials’ alleged negligence following the 2010 plane crash that killed then-President Lech Kaczyński, in a hearing that Tusk’s lawyer described as politically motivated.

“There is no need for any new hearing but I am a citizen and I have my duties,” Tusk said before entering the Polish national prosecutor’s office.

Lech Kaczyński’s twin brother, Jarosław, is the most powerful politician in Poland and heads Law and Justice, the governing right-wing party that defeated Tusk’s own Civic Platform party in the 2015 election. In the years since his brother and other top officials lost their lives in the plane crash in Russia’s Smoleńsk, Kaczyński has encouraged conspiracy theories about the accident.

Prosecutors are questioning Tusk over an alleged mix-up of bodies returned from Smoleńsk. Polish officials allegedly failed to participate in post-mortem examinations in Moscow and did not conduct their own in Warsaw after the bodies arrived. Three former cabinet ministers have already been questioned in connection with the investigation.

“There are things for him to worry about,” Kaczyński said of Tusk, in an interview shortly before the hearing began.

Asked by reporters if he thought the case against him was politically motivated, Tusk said: “Everything indicates that but it is not up to me to talk about it.” But his lawyer, Roman Giertych, bluntly declared: “It is obvious that there is a political motivation.”

Kaczyński has argued that Polish prosecutors, following direct orders from then-Prime Minister Tusk, did not participate in the post-mortem examinations of the crash victims for fear of offending Russia.

“Maintaining good relations at all costs — despite such a terrible event — was meant to make Donald Tusk a very important person in the European Union,” Kaczyński said, alleging that already in 2010 Tusk was planning to compete for a top EU job, which he was awarded in late 2014.

“It was not yet resolved then whether it was the job of chairman of the Council or the chairman of the Commission,” Kaczyński said, adding that “any accusation of conflicts with Russia precluded the possibility of obtaining such a promotion.”

The Thursday hearing is the second time in recent months that Tusk has been summoned to Warsaw as a witness. In April, he was questioned for eight hours over alleged illegal contacts between Polish and Russian intelligence officials during his time as prime minister.

But what critics describe as unfair targeting of the former prime minister has boosted his standing at home.

When summoned to Warsaw in April, Tusk chose to arrive by train and then walked for about one kilometer through the city to testify, with hundreds of cheering supporters briefly blocking one of the main avenues.

On Thursday, a few dozen supporters waving a “Welcome the President of Europe” banner waited for Tusk outside the prosecutor’s office.

Kaczyński had vehemently opposed Tusk’s bid for a second term as European Council president, telling German Chancellor Angela Merkel before he was reappointed in March that she should take into consideration Tusk’s legal entanglements when making the decision. Tusk won the support of 27 EU member countries, with only his home country opposing him.

Tusk has struggled to maintain a balance between his role as a European leader and that of a former Polish prime minister as Brussels has begun to take legal action against Poland over rule of law concerns.

Asked on Thursday about the Polish government’s controversial plans to overhaul the legal system, Tusk responded: “These reforms — if one may call them that — may result in investigative and judiciary structures being compliant [with the executive’s demands]… The issue of their independence is important not just for me but for 38 million Polish citizens.”

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ajhber

Kaczyński openly blackmails Tusk. He uses the repressive aparatus, created by sbordinating prosecutors to Minister of Justice Ziobro, to take a personal revenge on Tusk and on the opposition leaders.

During the last session of the Diet he told an opposition MP: -You will all go to jail.
This should be view ed as an announcement of persecution of the opposition on a scale that did not exist in communist Poland.

Law and Justice has several communist experts on repression in its ranks. The best known
is former prosecutor under the Martial law in 1982-3 Stanisław Piotrowicz, an MP pushing thru antidemocratic legislation in the Diet. In the PiS goverment in 2005-2007 a v minister of Justice was former judge Andrzej Kryże, who sentenced several Activision of the Solidarność to jail. His father, Roman Kryże, judge in the Supreme Militari Court, sentenced to death several members of the Polish resistence, including the famous Polish hero capture Witold Pilecki in 1948.

Kaczyński wants to bring back communist terror.

Posted on 8/3/17 | 4:51 PM CEST

Veritas-Semper

The German Candidate continues to bare his soul, in Polish – with the help of “higher-caliber-Bron”.

There is no “alleged mix up of bodies”. There were dozens of bodies that were mixed up in sealed coffins as they arrived from Russia which the German Candidate made sure were not opened for any post-mortem that any air crash would require. The mix up has been confirmed by dozens of exhumations to verify this fact and to prepare the post mortems as part of the on-going investigation to the Smolensk disaster. Many families to this day cannot be sure as to who rests in their family’s cemetery.

As the PM at that time – and the one who personally took charge of the investigation – Donald “little” Tusk bears direct responsibility in violation of Poland’s criminal code. A code that has NOT changed since his tenure.

It is only a question of time when official charges will be filed against the sitting German Candidate. And, the list of charges is just starting. Merkel cannot say that she was not warned by Kaczynski.

Posted on 8/3/17 | 4:56 PM CEST

ajhber

In Bialowieza Forest ecologists fight against the Forest Guards blocking the harvesting machines in order to prevent plunder of our natural reserves by Minister of Environment Szyszko.

A few days ago Szyszko sent a letter to the Ministry of Education asking for a change in the programme to include teaching about “eco-terrorissm”.

Posted on 8/3/17 | 6:08 PM CEST

pexit

@ajhber

The self called “ecologists” doesn’t protest so much when IV Reich and his old partner Russia are projecting to build North Stream II and pollute all Baltic sea and cut in two the only called nature reserve in Greifswald in the same way as North Stream I did…The last tender for the dredging works necessary for the gas pipe was “improved” with more than 60% of ground to be dredge marked as “unknown” and all Germans “ecologists” received nice bribes and stay silent when everyone knew that it was peat from the nature reserve that they are polluting completely by cutting it by the middle …

The only country who managed to preserve a natural forest in Europe doesn’t have to follow orders of imbeciles who doesn’t even know what’s a forest and how to do anything without cheating, lying and stealing…It looks like an illiterate trying to learn someone with a PhD how to write…

Posted on 8/3/17 | 6:32 PM CEST

ajhber

Harlem Desir representing OSCE has expressed his concern about the blackmail applied by Minister of Defence Macierewicz against journalist Tomasz Piatek. Since Macierewicz cannot claim that Piatek’s revelations are false he threatened the journalist with a military prosecutor who is subordinate to the minister.

Posted on 8/3/17 | 6:58 PM CEST

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Posted on 8/3/17 | 9:56 PM CEST

ab

During Tusk term as prime minister under Civic Platform government:
– secret services attacked headquarter of a popular journal to take journalists’ laptops to reveal their sources on corruption, scandals and wrongdoings of Civic Platform government (“akcja ABW w redakcji Wprost” – youtu.be/efAUCata4Hk?t=77),
– police made provocations during opposition demonstrations, undercover policemen kicked peaceful demonstrators in the face (https://youtu.be/WjhqU-3Erqc?t=30) or rounded and arrested peaceful demonstrators (“akcja widelec”), etc.
– developed invigilation of citizens to a scale unmatched in Europe,
– persecuted “unfriendly” journalists, including arrests and trials based on fake accusations (read about Sumlinski case),
– government officials discussed corruption and scandals during “private” dinners in expensive restaurants that were paid with their … public offices credit cards but which “unfortunately” for them were taped,
– Donald Tusk’s son worked for a company of organizer of the largest ponzi scheme in Poland – ‘Amber Gold’,
– under Civic Platform mayor in Warsaw mass appropriations and evictions were performed following “reprivatisation” that is in fact mass stealing of real estate property based also on fake documents, including brutal murder of Jolanta Brzeska – social justice activist that opposed that criminal activity; by the way this scandal would not be possible without cooperative judges that approved those activities – this is one of the reasons why 70% of Poles are of the opinion that reform of judicial system i necessary
libcom.org/news/housing-activist-found-dead-warsaw-08032011
– murder of Mariusz Rosiak happened – “In June 2010, one of the important politicians of the ruling party – Civic Platform encouraged his followers to “shoot Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and put his skin on sale in Europe.” Mainstream media were delighted with that Civic Platform MP and presented him as a model of a modern citizen. “Slaughter the rest of the Law and Justice (PiS) pack!” – urged publically back then Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. Soon after, a citizen named Richard Cyba – former Civic Platform member, inspired by such encouragements, went to look for a living PiS MP – to kill him. He had to “settle” for a PiS councilman from Lodz: he killed Marek Rosiak.”
currenteventspoland.com/analysis/recent-history-of-murderous-haters.html ?

So let’s see how it develops – certainly an interesting spectacle in front of us !

Posted on 8/3/17 | 9:58 PM CEST

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Posted on 8/3/17 | 11:17 PM CEST

RasmusDenmark

It seems that PiS has learned a lot from the days under communist rule.

There is absolutely no justifiable reason for letting your country devolve into a semi-authoritarian state in a time of relative peace and stability. History will judge PiS very hard.